Commons at Hooper at 1350 Hooper Ave. in Toms River — Courtesy: HFF
By Joshua Burd
A joint venture has closed on a Toms River shopping center with the help of $17.4 million in acquisition financing from an area bank, brokerage firm HFF said Monday.
The real estate services firm said it worked on behalf of the borrower, a partnership of Unison Realty Partners and ALTO Real Estate Funds, to secure the loan for the 120,000-square-foot Commons at Hooper complex at 1350 Hooper Ave. OceanFirst Bank provided the financing, along with a $3.4 million construction line that the borrower will be able to use for capital and tenant improvements and leasing commissions.
The HFF debt placement team included managing directors Michael Klein and Greg Labine. News of the deal comes two months after brokers with HFF arranged the sale of the retail center.
“The partnership has a clear vision as to how they are going to inject new life into the shopping center and create additional value moving forward, and HFF is happy to have assisted them with this transaction,” Labine said.
The borrower plans to lease the remaining available space, extend tenants with pending maturities early and invest in capital improvements that will help attract new tenants to the property, HFF said in a news release. This work will include a new roof, resurfaced parking lot, new pylon signage and façade upgrade, while the borrower may pursue an opportunity to construct a 2,500-square-foot pad site in the front of the center.
Completed in 1987, the 86 percent-leased Commons at Hooper is home to 21 tenants, including Michaels, DSW, Dollar Tree, Mattress Firm, Dress Barn and The UPS Store.
“With OceanFirst Bank’s corporate headquarters a half mile from Commons at Hooper, they were very familiar with the asset and easily understood what the borrower was trying to accomplish,” Klein said. “The bank provided a creative structure that would allow the partnership to execute its business plan and was able to close within a tight closing time frame.”
